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OK, last night, Vs. was promoting the Isles v. Sabres game in "beautiful HD," but where? 95 had yet another early season meaningless baseball game, and 94 had DirecTV's most popular and highly requested program "To Be Announced." What's the thinking here D*? No conflict for bandwidth that I can see, and unlike the Wings/Flames game, this was actually available in HD, so why can't we get it?

you didn't need to see it in HD to know the isles got screwed yet again by a bunch of incompetent refs. washing out that goal was a blatant attempt by the league to put a nail in the isles coffin so they can showcase their president trophy winning team.

oh well, even if the sabres beat the isles they still won't make it past the second round... they're too soft.

OK, last night, Vs. was promoting the Isles v. Sabres game in "beautiful HD," but where? 95 had yet another early season meaningless baseball game, and 94 had DirecTV's most popular and highly requested program "To Be Announced." What's the thinking here D*? No conflict for bandwidth that I can see, and unlike the Wings/Flames game, this was actually available in HD, so why can't we get it?

Islesfan - I love reading your posts. I feel your pain. Too bad you aren't a Detroit Hockey fan. I've always been just a casual Wings fan, and a die-hard Tigers fan. For years baseball took 2nd seat to Hockey in this town. Wings games always took precedent to Tigers games on TV.

Just this year they added an alternative channel to pick up Tigers games. Wings games still take precedent on the main RSN here.

I realize you are talking about HD, but your comment about the early season baseball made me laugh - you have no idea how many times I've cursed at the TV when I all I have to watch is the Pistons or Wings, while a perfectly good Tigers game is available only on the radio.

you didn't need to see it in HD to know the isles got screwed yet again by a bunch of incompetent refs. washing out that goal was a blatant attempt by the league to put a nail in the isles coffin so they can showcase their president trophy winning team.

oh well, even if the sabres beat the isles they still won't make it past the second round... they're too soft.

Tell me about it! I couldn't have put it better myself. There have been complaints about the fans throwing garbage onto the ice, but what do you expect? I really can't blame them. It is frustrating to see your team face a rigged series, no matter how hard they fight.

The shame of it is, Buffalo is a great team (true, soft, but talented) to showcase the "New NHL" and they likely would have won the series anyway. But instead of seeing a hard fought, entertaining, 7 game series, we get a fixed one where the path is paved for the Sabres.

you didn't need to see it in HD to know the isles got screwed yet again by a bunch of incompetent refs. washing out that goal was a blatant attempt by the league to put a nail in the isles coffin so they can showcase their president trophy winning team.

oh well, even if the sabres beat the isles they still won't make it past the second round... they're too soft.

Soft? Adam Mair, Andrew Peters, Paul Gaustad (coming back in Round 2) I think they have enough toughness if the refs continue to enforce the "New NHL" rules....we'll see how far this style of officiating will go into the playoffs....

I do see the Islanders fans pain though....Living in Dallas and being from Buffalo - I still see Brett Hull''s foot in the crease as he chipped a loose puck over Hasek to win the Stanley Cup in overtime (with no review mind you)....this - just as I was getting over "wide Right" and the "Music City Miracle":crying:

Soft? Adam Mair, Andrew Peters, Paul Gaustad (coming back in Round 2) I think they have enough toughness if the refs continue to enforce the "New NHL" rules....we'll see how far this style of officiating will go into the playoffs....

I do see the Islanders fans pain though....Living in Dallas and being from Buffalo - I still see Brett Hull''s foot in the crease as he chipped a loose puck over Hasek to win the Stanley Cup in overtime (with no review mind you)....this - just as I was getting over "wide Right" and the "Music City Miracle":crying:

new rules or old... the sabres only win when teams give them space. if you play them physical (within the rules) and keep them against the boards they can't play their style of hockey and they loose. don't get me wrong, they are entertaining.... but i don't think they are a contender.

new rules or old... the sabres only win when teams give them space. if you play them physical (within the rules) and keep them against the boards they can't play their style of hockey and they loose. don't get me wrong, they are entertaining.... but i don't think they are a contender.

This is all too true, but if the officiating is biased, players are hesitant to initiate physical contact for fear of a bogus penalty. Don't get me wrong, I like the new rules, but only if they are implemented fairly. Seeing calls being made at one end, and then the exact same infraction being ignored when the other team does it, this just leads to less physical play (or, in some cases, the players start to take matters into their own hands, and then there is more "physical" play, but constant face washes after the whistle is not what I pay to see.)

I hope that Friday's game doesn't devolve into players taking matters into their own hands. Fortunately, Buffalo is a pretty clean team. This same thing happened in 2002 when the Isles played the Leafs, which at that time was a very dirty team, and things got ugly fast. While the Sabres get away with constant hooking, holding, and tripping, they have only dangerously boarded a couple of players (Blake and Campoli) and the Blake one was called, albeit a minor. You have to know, however, that if Witt hat hit Briere like Numinen hit Blake, Witt would be done for the playoffs.

new rules or old... the sabres only win when teams give them space. if you play them physical (within the rules) and keep them against the boards they can't play their style of hockey and they loose. don't get me wrong, they are entertaining.... but i don't think they are a contender.

WOW....I can't remember the last time the winner of a President's Trophy wasn't considered a "contender" in the playoffs. I agree with you to a certain degree that when teams bottle them up and get physical they struggle. The problem for most teams is they aren't quick enough to catch them!

I see times when teams are very physical and would hope the Sabres would respond a little more, but they end up finding ways to win. There was talk about 3/4 of the way thru the season that the "book" on the Sabres was to get physical. Teams tried, but only a few were successful. We'll see how it turns out...

you didn't need to see it in HD to know the isles got screwed yet again by a bunch of incompetent refs. washing out that goal was a blatant attempt by the league to put a nail in the isles coffin so they can showcase their president trophy winning team. .

So I halfway watched part of the Isles-Sabres game before the SHarks came on.. Was the goal your referring to one where the puck gets lost for a minute, ref pulls out his whistle, puck goes in the net, then the whistle blows? ( I can't remember if the goal I'm thinking of was in your game or mine!!! )

Anyway... if that's the goal you're talking about, I went back and forth during the replays. As a watcher with no interest in the game other than I'm a hockey nut. Based on the overhead and where the goalie was, it appeared that the puck went in before the whistle, but you didn't actually see the puck until after the whistle... I thought the puck came free and crossed the line before the whistle, but the angle they had you saw the puck on one side of the line and then it reappeared at the back of the net after the whistle... I've always heard it said that they have to see the puck on replay to overturn the call... Even though it was probably against all the laws of physics for the puck to appear as far back in the net as it did UNLESS it was across the line before the whistle... if they can't clearly see the puck, they're supposed to let the call stand...

It's probably something that should be looked at, because the play I saw, the puck HAD to be across the line before the whistle, it was just obscured by the goalie stick for a moment... but it's completely in the back of the net just an instant after the whistle, so unless you've got supersonic pucks... if the video judge in the arena doesn't have latitude to make the call, then the guys in Toronto should have the abilty to look at it with some latitude.....

Of course, I'd probably be steaming if the call was against my Sharks and gave us a loss...

I haven't seen much of the series, but I've been impressed by the Isles... They've got some improvement to make... but every time I've seen bits and pieces of the game, they're hanging tough with a Buffalo team that is much more talented, especially if the game is played the way the "new nhl" is supposed to go with a more wide open game that showcases the "skill players".

you didn't need to see it in HD to know the isles got screwed yet again by a bunch of incompetent refs. washing out that goal was a blatant attempt by the league to put a nail in the isles coffin so they can showcase their president trophy winning team.

oh well, even if the sabres beat the isles they still won't make it past the second round... they're too soft.